Notes

In late February, we were in a difficult position and had to downsize the team to move the business forward. (Read Edition No. 077: Facing Tough Decisions) Over the last couple of months, we've received feedback about the team's perception of the layoffs, mostly in one-on-ones and through our Team Leads.

While we thought concerns were addressed in one-on-one conversations, the Team Leads recently shared that they felt there were still gaps worth addressing team-wide. A common theme was that the layoffs seemed sudden. There are aspects to these situations that will always come as a surprise to the team; however, the Partners and I were curious about what opportunities there might be to educate the team.

After chatting through the Team Lead's concerns, we agreed that outlining what led to the layoffs from a business perspective would be helpful. While we're transparent with the team about the agency's finances through quarterly updates, we hadn't explicitly connected the dots between the layoffs and our financial performance.

In our April Monthly Team Meeting on Thursday, we used a portion of our time to dig into what led to the layoffs through the numbers, showing how delayed projects, over-serviced accounts, and rising freelance costs are a recipe for disaster. It's always hard to tell how folks receive these conversations, but a few people shared appreciation as we closed out the meeting. I also sent out a feedback form today for any additional thoughts or questions.

Helping the team understand how our business operates continues to be important as we grow and evolve as an agency. Some folks may write off business concepts as unnecessary for those steeped in the day-to-day work; however, we believe it is valuable for everyone from the CEO to interns. Down the line, we hope that these efforts will help our team see how daily decisions can impact the agency's trajectory and growth.

We can't expect a single presentation to close the gaps, but it's a step in the right direction. I am eager to create more opportunities to discuss similar topics as a team down the line.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 086 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

If I ever catch myself daydreaming about a world where all clients are happy and all projects are frictionless, I remind myself of the valuable lessons I've learned from client feedback and project setbacks. Call me crazy, but I'd rather grow through tough moments than become weak over time without any friction.

All that said, I'm happy to report that last week ended strong with a win on a project marked by a series of ups and downs. Without getting lost in the details, this project is a website for a new brand. Throughout the process, it has been easy to point at the client's growing team and evolving brand as reasons for delayed progress.

"Client feedback isn't consolidated."

"Client keeps changing their minds on requirements."

"Client is not aligned on the purpose of this website."

I commend the team on all we've done to support the client on these roadblocks. While we've made incremental progress, the design process has felt like climbing a mountain that grows steeper with every step.

About a month ago, I prompted a call with the client to get their take on our collaboration thus far. Though they acknowledged their internal challenges, it was clear that they were not yet happy with our work. I met with the team to discuss, and we came back with revised designs, but in the client's words, the list of feedback kept growing longer, not shorter.

A couple of weeks ago, a different stakeholder reached out to chat. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I mentally prepared for every scenario. On the call, the client asked if we'd be open to switching the designer on the project. I listened as they described the diminishing energy on client calls and the feeling that they were on the brink of trying to dictate the designs. The good news is that they believed in us and wanted to make it work.

I'll cut to the chase and say that we onboarded a new designer a week ago, scrapped the designs, and presented new concepts early last week. To quote the client, the designs "helped us to see how our brand can shine through, and they inspired us to see the possibilities of what we can build together."

While this project tale has a happy ending, I always find it helpful to take stock of the lessons. In this case, there's a bunch.

As a team, it's led to conversations about client communication, our design approach, and how to handle tough client and team conversations.

As for me, there are a few personal lessons I'll be taking with me.

1. ‍Clients come first. This doesn't mean that the team comes last; it means unhappy clients = unhappy team. It is critical to make space for clients to provide feedback and feel heard, regardless of how the project seems to be going. Getting ahead of this builds trust and can make or break the relationship down the line.
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2. It's okay to get your hands dirty. Given the project timeline, we not only had to turn the designs around but also do it quickly. On the morning of the big presentation, I noticed the designer hadn't yet reviewed the feedback I shared the night before. My mind wandered to what might happen if I waited for them to address it just hours before the presentation. I decided it wasn't worth the risk, so I jumped in and made the updates myself. Part of me worried about overstepping, but in the end, my help seemed to relieve stress and avoid last-minute scrambling.
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3. Ask: what's the hard move we're avoiding? In hindsight, when I learned that the client was unhappy with the designs a month ago, I wish I paused to ask myself, what's the hard move we're avoiding? Instead, I gave direction to the team and leaned on them to see it through.
   
   Looking back, all of the signs that the designer was losing steam were there, but we kept plugging along. When we let them know we were taking them off the project, they agreed with the decision and shared how "they didn't feel like themself anymore" on the project, more concerned with addressing the client's nitpicky notes than trying to understand the client.
   
   Changing resources on a project is not always the solution; in fact, I had a similar client request years ago but knew it wasn't the right move and things worked out. In this case, I think we knew it could benefit the designer and project, but subconsciously avoided the move.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 086 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

Last year, we shifted our entire team to Asana, consolidating SmartSheets, Basecamp, and other tools. We saw the move as a way to streamline collaboration and create efficiency. While Asana has proven to be an effective tool for the team, there have been challenges in how we collaborate with clients. Some will say they understand it but then ask for information that already lives in Asana (deadlines, links, etc.). Others are allergic to even signing in.

In re-envisioning our ways of working, including how we use Asana, I keep coming back to the idea of a project plan. What does a client need to know? What do they care about most?

I remember the buzz when Domino's first introduced the pizza tracker in their app. Customers loved knowing the progress of their order and when it would be ready. As an agency, I don't see our client's needs that much differently. They want to know where their project stands at every step, when to get involved, and when it will be ready to launch.

When I look at our process today, we're expecting the client to follow along with the recipe, not track the status of their order.

I'm excited for the most recent developments on process changes. Overall, I see a huge opportunity to simplify, narrow our client's view, and deliver on what's important.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 085 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

It's hard to believe it's only been six months since we created the Executive Sponsor role on accounts. In my October 2021 note, I described the role like this: "[Executive Sponsors] are a designated Barrel representative to periodically facilitate one-on-one conversations with the client's key stakeholder, typically C-Suite. In some ways, the Executive Sponsor can act as a third-party participant, offering a unique perspective without being caught in the details of the day-to-day. They are there to listen and offer up ideas on how to strengthen collaboration."

Establishing Executive Sponsors took some time, but at this point, it's hard to imagine our work without them. There are plenty of opportunities to evolve the role; however, I've been happy to hear positive feedback from the team and clients alike. Both sides share the same sentiment: it is helpful for someone to take the time to pull out of the work and look at the collaboration as a whole.

As an Executive Sponsor myself, one of the aspects I've valued most is getting real-time feedback from an array of clients. Rather than guessing what we can do to improve, I've enjoyed jumping into conversations head-first and asking the tough questions. From there, I've been to identify themes across clients and work with the team to make changes that can create a real impact. Many of these are currently in motion.

After weeks like last week, I'm especially grateful that we recognized the need for this new channel with clients. Unfortunately, one of our clients has been unhappy with a piece of our work, but luckily, they reached out to me, and we now have the chance to work through it. In another case, a client shared some of the challenges they're facing and ideas on how we can help them succeed.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 085 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

On Monday, I attended our Design Director Christine's first 2022 Upward Feedback session with her team: the Design team. We run this process twice per year. After a manager's direct reports submit feedback via Lattice, the manager runs a meeting to review the comments openly with the entire group. Since experimenting with this format last year (read: Conducting My First Upward Feedback Survey), these sessions have been a powerful tool for managers to capture feedback themes and identify opportunity areas for their performance.

One of the themes highlighted in Christine's session stood out to me. Her team shared that while she's great at creating space to provide feedback on the agency, they don't always feel in tune with company-wide initiatives and how or if their feedback has contributed.

This feedback got me thinking about my time leading the design team before Christine took over. As Creative Director and Partner, I would naturally share updates (from my conversations with the other partners) with Christine and the Design team. It didn't matter if these updates were ideas or future decisions; I would give everyone a heads up on whatever seemed important enough. Looking back, this channel of communication helped keep designers in the know.

While Christine's Upward Feedback session surfaced the topic, I take it as valuable for all the Team Leads and a good reminder for me as Chief Experience Officer, now managing the Team Leads of our executing teams. As a Partner team, we often focus on writing team-wide memos and touching upon updates in team-wide meetings. I still believe these are important, but I see an opportunity to mentor our Team Leads on their communication, closing the gap between conversations with leadership and conversations they have with their teams.

The Team Leads are the glue between the Partner and the executing teams. It is up to us to share a vision and invite them to take part in shaping where the agency is going, but it can't stop there. While the Partners may interface with the executing team, the Team Leads are the guide. Helping them communicate agency progress and vision will be critical for us to work as one, or as we say, one Barrel.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 085 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

About a week ago, our Design Director asked me for input on where I see their role end and begin. Over the past year, their involvement on the team has evolved with our growth as an agency. Without a job description, there are times when they feel unsure where to focus and pulled in different directions.

Our Design Director has been with us for years now, initially joining us as a Designer. It's interesting what happens when an employee grows along with the agency. As new roles are unlocked, current roles evolve. That often means distributing responsibilities and sharpening the scope of each role. That was the situation here. We both understood how the Design Director role fit in but hadn't zoomed out to articulate that and align on it.

Initially, I tried writing a formal job description, but it felt cold and detached for someone I've worked with for so long. I thought back to my motorcycle training course where we were asked to take a pledge after each lesson. Committing to the lesson learned hit much harder than a simple review. I wondered how this could apply to job descriptions.

Instead of "Oversee the team's work assignments. Your goal is to create an environment for your team to do their best work and drive results for our clients," I wrote:

• I facilitate my team’s tasks and projects. I make sure that everyone is assigned to work where they are engaged, growing, and able to do their best.
• I create an environment for my team to do their best work while driving results for the client and agency.

This hit differently and once I got going, the rest of the list nearly created itself. On Friday, our Design Director and I reviewed the list. I asked them to read each statement aloud, ask questions, and give feedback. They commented on the feeling of ownership as we analyzed every word.

In the end, I am so glad this conversation took place. Our Design Director and I talk daily. If they hadn't brought this up, I would have continued helping them manage priorities and day-to-day experiences without seeing the big picture. This experience was a good reminder to create space to zoom out and make sure not to miss the forest for the trees.

I look forward to seeing how this approach might roll might fit in more places across the agency, likely starting with our Team Leads.

***

Funny story: I was deleting photos on my phone this weekend to create space and came across handwritten notes mapping out the future of the Design team (4 or so years ago) before the Design Director role existed.

Very cool to see where we are now and how closely this tracks with what I shared on Friday! I'm not sure why I never digitized this or made it a thing? Who knows, but I'll take it as a sign from the Universe that we're headed in a good direction.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 083 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

Since merging the Project Management and Client Services teams, there have been questions about how we're differentiating the Account Director, Account Manages, and Project Manager roles.

While I have ideas of how these roles can function, I worried that swooping in with a solution would be disruptive, and I may not be solving the real issues.

I've been very forward about my perspective with the team. I wasn't sure exactly what steps to take, but I felt that focusing on projects first was the right place to start. In essence, rather than making a team-wide change that impacts every project, I aimed to find success on every project, identify the common themes, and then crystalize a team-wide structure.

After several one-on-one discussions with the team, I decided to start facilitating 30-minute workshops to review roles and responsibilities with the Account Leads and PMs on their projects, one at a time. The first two workshops took place last week.

In the workshop, I started by creating a column for each role in FigJam. In the first session, I asked: In one or two sentences, describe what your main value-add is on this project? The answer proved difficult, so we moved on. As we listed each person's desired activities, I invited them to forget what they knew and share how they'd ideally like to be involved. Within 15 minutes, we had a solid list, uncovering opportunities for each person to collaborate in new ways.

At the end, I returned to my earlier question, and now, the answer came more naturally. Together, we synthesized each role in one sentence. I thought this piece would be a good way to give each person a clean statement to lean on for clarity if anything out of the ordinary popped up down the line.

I'm only two sessions in, but the feedback has been positive. One of the attendees even asked to set up a workshop for another project. I'm excited to continue these sessions with Kate, our Director of Client Services, for another couple of weeks before locking in a clear structure for the team.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 083 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

Several years ago, my good friend Kyle introduced me to a friend of his brother Eric, Joe. Years later, Joe moved in with Kyle down the street when I lived in Brooklyn. During that time, I enjoyed getting to know Joe.

Joe and I share a love for music and a desire to spend time exploring ideas. It took me time to learn the latter, though. You wouldn't know it when you meet Joe, but he quietly works on all kinds of side projects in his downtime. I admire his passion and curiosity.

Last year, Joe asked me to contribute to his latest project, an online mixtape club called Green Bananas. I was pumped but admittedly a bit nervous — I hadn't curated a mixtape since the age of Winamp media players, LimeWire, and stacks of blank CDs.

It took me a while (read: months) to decide on a theme, but with winter in full swing, I noticed I was spending more time than usual curating music to set the right tone with the highs and lows of the season, often returning to songs I hadn't listened to in years.

My playlist, entitled "Den," hit Green Bananas last week. You can check it out here. Den is an eclectic collection of 15 songs that capture the essence of my Winter experience.

I had a lot of fun working with Joe over email and even more fun taking the time to find the right cadence of tracks. The experience brought me back to curating setlists when I was performing regularly.

Joe probably has no idea how grateful I am for this simple ask. It's brought me closer to music, while subconsciously, I think it also inspired me to start featuring tracks in this newsletter.

Thanks for the opportunity, Joe.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 082 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

Last week, we tried a new exercise called Growth Moments in Barrel Management Forum, a bi-weekly space for all managers to pull out of the day-to-day and connect on management-related topics.

I've noticed that many of my one-on-ones with managers cover topics and insights that would be helpful to the larger group. Growth Moments is an attempt to bridge the gap and create an opportunity for us to dig into shared experiences and learn together.

Inspired by an activity from the book An Everyone Culture called a **fishbowl (excerpt below), once a month, one of the managers take center stage and share:

• A personal challenge they're facing as a manager (giving feedback, running 1-1s)
• A recent experience with a direct report/team that they think could have gone better
• An upcoming situation with a direct report/team that they'd like advice on
• Anything else on your mind

Once they share the context, I kick off the conversation, and we dig in together. I was unsure how this would go, but I was excited to give it a try last week. It's been in the back of my mind since reading the book.

I loved seeing everyone engaged and supportive. Meetings are 30 minutes, which has proven to be the perfect amount of time to keep the energy up from start to finish with these sorts of conversations. We left the meeting with new insights on structuring one-on-ones and building trust with our direct reports.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 082 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

Imagine seeking out a contractor to do work at your house. You're a new homeowner, so you have no idea what this work should cost.

You reach out to five contractors, chat with four of them, and receive three nice-looking proposals. One is way more than you can afford, one is skeptically low, and the other seems reasonable. You have all kinds of questions, wondering how they arrived at their estimates and why there's such a discrepancy.

The fourth contractor asks if they can come by your house to see the space and discuss the work in more detail before sending a proposal. They visit and ask you several questions, some you hadn't even considered. You learn a lot.

Before they leave, they share a few approaches, and you align on one that feels right, along with a timeline and budget range. The budget is higher than you hoped, but you feel informed and excited.

You review the other three proposals while waiting for the fourth in writing. Who will you choose?

I've enjoyed experimenting with the fourth contractor's approach in recent new business calls with our Director of Business Development, Dan. There's something freeing about this approach.

Many prospective clients are looking to get started "yesterday," so time is of the essence. While an extra phone call or two might make the process look slow on paper, I find that having an honest, open conversation upfront can save time down the line and maybe even increase your chances of winning the work.

There's a benefit to a formal, designed proposal, but I'm more interested in the timing than the artifact.

Three contractors thought they knew enough about the job to propose an approach after the first call, leaning on their reputation and a detailed estimate. The fourth contractor slowed down the process and got curious about the work with a visit, understanding there are nuances to every job. They used this as an opportunity to get to know you and the work more closely. Through the process, they educated you and co-created an approach.

It can feel uncomfortable to throw out potential project approaches on a call and start talking about the budget. However, this openness and willingness to collaborate can encourage the same from the client. Sometimes, this is the client's first time doing the work. They don't know what they don't know. By brainstorming together, you can dig into what they're really trying to accomplish, what they can spend, and where you can add value.

In the end, it's impossible to know whether or not you're going to win a new deal, even when you hit it off with the prospective client. So, I find it rewarding to continue trying new tactics. If the client chooses to go with another agency, but we helped them realize what they need, I still consider it a win in some sense. We made a good impression, helped them find the path forward, and gained a new contact to stay in touch with down the line.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 082 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

One of my favorite concepts from Dana and I's puppy training research is how dogs pick up on our energy.

When we're concerned or frustrated, they mirror us, and we create the situation that we're trying to avoid. For example, when the puppy is excited and you use a loud voice to try asserting power, the puppy gets more energetic. It picks up on your heightened energy and matches it. Instead, if you remain calm and still, it will eventually settle. Cesar Millan, a famous and fairly controversial dog trainer, uses the term "calm confidence" to refer to this energy.

I appreciate the sense of ownership this concept inspires, not pointing at the dog critiquing its behavior, but looking at ourselves and what we can do to create change. It is a metaphor for so many things in life; however, it hit home for me recently as related to meeting engagement.

There are meetings during a stressful project or centered on an uncomfortable topic (like 3-2-1 Growth) where I'm inclined to enter the conversation assuming the worst, aka low-to-no engagement or tension. Taking a deep breath and leading the meeting with the energy I want to create while expecting the best has proven to pay off.

Dog or human, my gut tells me there's a lot to learn when we realize we're all mirrors.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 081 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

In March of last year, I designed a new activity for our Monthly Team Meetings called 3-2-1 Growth. The objective was to engage the team in personal growth topics regularly. More on the origin here if you're interested.

Since then, I've tried several different activities and experimented with a variety of topics. This week marked another new iteration in format and timing. Rather than a 10-15 minute exercise at the end of Monthly Team Meeting, it is now the focus of the last Tuesday Meetup of the month, a 30-minute weekly meeting for the team to come together.

Instead of focusing on a topic, I thought it would be fun to frame the exercise around a relatable situation. Rather than ask "how do you handle client requests that are out of scope," I led with this:

The Situation: We're excited to present our design concepts to a new client after receiving sign-off on wireframes. When we get on Zoom, we're surprised to see the CEO since they've never been in a meeting before. After we present, the CEO thanks us for the work before asking if we can add a "Subscribe" button to the PDP and allow customers to customize their subscription. This is the first time we're hearing about subscriptions...

Once everyone had a chance to digest the situation. We went into breakout rooms and talked through this prompt:

Prompt: What thoughts are going through your head? How do we respond to the CEO? What happens next?

With 10 minutes left, we all came back and talked through our key insights. I was pleasantly surprised by how engaged everyone was, sharing tons of ideas for managing the situation. In my interactions for the rest of the week, it was also cool to see team members taking action on what they had learned or hear them talking about similar topics.

I did receive some good feedback, though. A team member asked me what we do with these insights, expecting that there were next actions everyone could take. When I get a question like this, I like to assume that at least a few other folks are thinking the same thing and there's an opportunity to better articulate to the larger group. I plan to do that in the next session.

For now, I explained that the intent is not for these meetings to directly change or impact the process in a matter of days. They're an opportunity for the team to think and reflect together. If we can all leave these sessions more aligned and 1% better than when we entered, I consider it a success.

The more we do it, 1% becomes 2%, 2% becomes 3%, and so on. Before you know it, we're all that much further along.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 081 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

Late last week, I had a flashback to my morning routine just over a year ago. I'd wake up then lay in bed for a few more minutes. Then, I'd look at my phone, probably check my email or look at social media, opening the flood gates to everything I'd rested from. In seconds, my dialogue with the world would begin again.

Looking back, I see that I was missing out on the most critical dialogue — the one with me. The opportunity to reflect on and understand my experiences, relationships, and ambitions more deeply.

Over a year ago, I got into a good pattern of waking up, reading for 30 minutes, and writing in my journal. I also implemented what I call social fasting where I cut off social media from 9 am to 8 pm. Admittedly, my routine took a turn when we moved to PA, but I eventually got back on track.

This time in the morning has become a game-changer for me. There's something special about welcoming the day on my terms. We all wake up with thoughts on our minds, but they're ours, not triggered by the outside world. We're in control.

Some mornings, I read first. Other times, I journal first. When I wake up with a thought on a pressing issue, capturing it immediately can often lead me to a new place. Reading has a similar effect. Opening a book when my mind is most clear can spark fresh ideas or a different outlook on current life events.

With another action-packed week at work, I've been grateful that I've created this space for myself to re-energize and welcome the day. It's been a powerful way to live proactively, manage curveballs, and make progress on non-urgent initiatives when everything else is vying for my attention.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 081 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

I'm sharing this idea because it was top of mind as last week came to a close. Right now, I notice a narrative forming on our team: the development process feels like a "black box," meaning we finish design milestones and then enter a cloud-like abyss, hoping we come out on the other side with an effective end product.

Sometime in 2019, I worked with the team to document and re-name many of our design milestones to get more alignment on the team. While many of the activities remained the same, it was amazing to see how far a new naming approach and onboarding deck went.

Like the predictable cadence of the design process, I'm curious how we can better brand and outline the development process for our team and clients alike. While it may feel like a black box, it's not. There are a series of activities and milestones we do every time. However, many of these activities aren't client-facing until they're at a level of polish worth sharing.

But, why wait? What would it look like to deliver something every week or two? What might get a client just as excited as sharing wireframes or two unique design concepts?

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 080 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.

When you think about the hierarchy within an agency, your mind probably goes right to titles and roles on a team. I know mine does or well... did. While team structure is critical, agency employees spend most of their time working on projects with co-workers from several other teams. When you look at it this way, one might argue that the structure of a project team should take precedence.

Several months ago, I started mapping out "org charts" for project teams but decided to de-prioritize it in favor of other initiatives. However, in light of our recent restructuring, it might be more important than I thought.

When you view project teams like mini-agencies, you start asking questions like:

• Who is driving the team toward a vision?
• Who is in charge of keeping finances on track and delivering under budget?
• Who reports to who throughout the project?
• Who makes the final decision?
• The list goes on.

As tempting as it is to answer these questions and roll them out among the team, my gut tells me that it will be more effective in the long run to work with the team to discover them.

This post originally appeared in Edition No. 080 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.